Room odor control

ABSTRACT

A dispenser for liquids controlling room odors in which controlled amounts of liquid are dispersed in a washable disk of expanded plastic rotated in a confined compartment to induce a mild circulation of air therethrough whereby vapor from the liquid is imparted to the air and airborne particles of smoke are removed from the air.

United States Patent [191 Valbona et al.

1 Aug. 13, 1974 ROOM ODOR CONTROL [75] Inventors: Bruno M. Valbona, Avon; Harry M.

Voglesonger, Riverton, both of Conn.

[73] Assignee: Dynamics Corporation, New York,

[22] Filed: June 19, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 264,135

[52] U.S. Cl. 261/89, 261/91 [51] Int. Cl. ClOj 1/12 [58] Field of Search 261/91, 89, DIG. 65, 84

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/1944 Holm-Hansen 261/89 X 3,283,478 11/1966 Katzman et al 261/91 X 3,701,513 10/1972 Carter 261/84 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 331,219 6/1930 Great Britain 261/91 Primary ExaminerAndrew R. .Iuhasz Attorney, Agent, or FirmHarbaugh & Thomas [5 7] ABSTRACT A dispenser for liquids controlling room odors in which controlled amounts of liquid are dispersed in a washable disk of expanded plastic rotated in a confined compartment to induce a mild circulation of air therethrough whereby vapor from the liquid is imparted to the air and airborne particles of smoke are removed from the air.

9 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures ROOM ODOR CONTROL BACKGROUND OF INVENTION:

Odorizing or deodorizing a room for the benefit of occupants is a very critical task because of the acute perceptions of the olfactory senses and the sensitivities and varietal likings of different people. Moreover, the

number of different odor control liquids to be dispensed in different prescribed amounts and times extend over a wide range, from one or two drops a day to many ounces of liquid. Some liquids are concentrated, others are mild for any. one of a number of reasons. Also, the question whether a room is closed or partially vented is an important consideration because an odor control in a closed room should taper output to avoid excessive build up, yet should supply a constant quantity if the room is partially vented, particularly where a scent is desired that is persistent and faint.

Many operational problems are involved for a universal' dispenser. An electrically energized dispenser that will properly handle a widerange and variety of liquid dispensing conditions must be quite versatile as well as simple to operate if it is to be acceptable to interested purchasers for the adequate handling of all liquid odor controls and formulations they might care to use, as distinguished from a dispenser designed for a particular proprietary deodorant alone. Objectively, a dispenser should satisfy the above requirements, and should be inconspicuous or decorative and easily cleaned; should not be heard or attract attention; and should not cause drafts or changes in the temperature or humidity of the room, it being appreciated that odors can permeate the air with imperceptible air circulation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:

In the present invention an electrically powered dispenser is provided which selectively will dispense a variable large volume of liquid or one or two drops a day by a simple adjustment, whichever the purchaser may choose to use for different purposes at particular times. An inexpensive induction motor is mounted to rotate a light disk or impeller of an expanded plastic such as styrofoam. An aspirating opening on top receives eye dropper amounts of liquid and applies them directly to the disk, or a small storage tank below the disk impeller can be easily charged if several ounces of liquid are desired. Alternate or concurrent uses of the liquid can be made.

Preferably a conical intake cap rotated about its axis with its small open end submerged in liquid operates to centrifugally supply liquid to the impeller disk. The cup is frictionally and threadably mounted on a drive element that has a needle valve on its lower end to cooperate with the inner surface of the intake cap for relative adjustment to meter the amount of liquid permitted to be centrifugated and dispersed in the porous impeller. Although the impeller disk may be flat on both sides,

it is preferred to leave it with rough surfaces on either different environs to dispense a vapor for purifying, deodorizing, or scenting air with varying concentrations with little power consumption and mild air circulation.

IN THE DRAWINGS:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view taken vertically on the center line of a circularly shaped embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 are sections taken on lines 2-2, 3--3 and 44, respectively, in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS:

Referring now to the drawing in further detail an externally decorative circular housing 10 is illustrated as made up of an upper shell 12, housing a two pole induction motor 14, and a lower shell 16. Between them a compartment 18 peripherally vented by ports 19 is formed to receive a disk impeller 20 that is supported and driven by the shaft 30 of the motor as supplied with a liquid odor control composition either from above or below. A supply of such a composition in concentrated form may be selectively introduced in drops from above the impeller through the upper shell 12 by an as pirating tube 26 whose lower end opens close to the hub of the impeller where a negative air pressure is developed while the impeller is running, or, larger quantities of a dilute odor control liquid 22 can be variably supplied from a storage tank 24 defined by the lower shell below the impeller. The dilute odor control liquid 22 is lifted from the tank 24 by centrifugal force to the bottom side of the central portion of the impeller 20 as at 64, by a centrifugal device assembly 29, which depends from the motor shaft 30 as rotated by the motor 14 at approximately 3200 RPM.

The motor in turn is mounted in the upper shell along with the upper partition wall 28 of the compartment 18 as supported from studs 36 by flatheaded, self threading screws 32 and spacers 34. Air is supplied to the motor compartment through a series of openings 35 in the wall of the shell 12 to cool the motor and in doing so reduce its humidity after which it passes through a large central opening 38 in the partition wall 28 to the hub area of the impeller, and is then driven radially outwardly by the impeller along its surface and expelled through the ports 19 formed by the castellations 78 of the circular depending flange 84 of the partition.

The lower end of the motor shaft 30 depending below the partition wall receives on it a collar 40 which is preferably made of an elastomeric urethane and has a circumferential groove 42 intermediate its ends and a central hole axially to be received tightly on the shaft 30 in driven relationship. The collar may be made of two parts, shaped to provide the groove when adhered in axial alignment either by an adhesive or a telescoping relationship, but is illustrated as a unit with the lower portion externally threaded at 44 over an intermediate portion of its length below which it tapers to provide a needle type valve member 46.

Mounted in the groove is a thin perforated disk 48- made of thin metal or plastic which is located at one side of the groove where it supports one side of the impeller 20 in planar relationship over its central portion. The impeller can be assembled with the collar at the same time as the support disk 48 or clipped on later. The support disk squares the impeller in its plane of rotation so that it does not drag against fixed parts during rotation and its outer edges hold in that plane in the compartment 18 under centrifugal forces.

Coacting with the lower end of the collar 40 is a conical housing 50, having a radial flange 52 at the top engaging the lower face of the impeller, and, an internally threaded central hub portion 54 adjustably engaging the thread 56 of the collar 40. Below the threaded portion 50 54 the housing tapers inwardly to a valve port 58 to coact with the needle valve 46 at the end of the collar 40 and control the volume of liquid passing therethrough. In the internal wall of the taper are longitudinal grooves 60 (FIG. 4) preferably helically inclined to trail the direction of rotation and provide a helical wall that also lifts as well as centrifugates the liquid. The grooves segment the thread 56 for two reasons, namely, to prevent vortexing of liquid in the flow space 62 and to confine and lift the liquid above the valve port 58 to flow upwardly past the mating threads 44 and 54, under the centrifugal force induced by rotation of the impeller 20, the collar 40 and the housing 50, as a unit. Liquid impelled upwardly, past the threads and to the upper ends of grooves 60., comes into contact with the impeller as at 64.

Externally the housing 50 is provided with a throw ring contour 66 which prevents liquid from spinning up its outer surface in the clearance space therearound. However, this could be a supplemental path of flow for liquid but one that may be less easy to control.

By way of supplying the port 58 with liquid, the lower shell is saucer-shaped with a depression 70 in the bottom thereof immediately below the port 58 and a cover partition 72 forming the lower wall of the compartment 18 marginally rests on a shoulder 74 at the rim of the shell 16. Centrally the partition 72 forms a well 76 around the housing 50 with the lower edges resting in the depression 70 and castellated at 78 to permit liquid at its lowest level to flow between the depression 70 and the tank portion 24 in which is shown liquid 22 (FIG. 1). A small air vent hole 82 is provided, if desired, to assist in filling the tank when the upper shell assembly is lifted from the lower shell assembly for that purpose.

Also, whenever the upper shell assembly is lifted from the lower shell assembly, the collar 40 and impeller assembly can be removed from the motor shaft and rinsed, or, if desired, the tapered housing member 50 can be unthreaded and the porous impeller disk removed and washed. It can then be reinstalled and spun dry before the assembly is returned to the lower shell assembly. When returned, the lower edges of the peripheral axial flange 84 on the upper partition 28 rests marginally on the peripheral portion of the partition 72 and a resilient seal can be located between the partition 72 and the shoulder 74 of the lower shell 161. This would modify the tank 24 by sealing it to serve asfla bell jar except for the opening 82 which, when plugged, would maintain the liquid at a constant levelin the depression 70 just above the castellations 78. Otherwise, the location of the hole 82 may be made near the cen ter of the impeller so that the mild suction pressures existing at the hub of the impeller are balanced on opposite sides of the wall of the well for utilizing the gradually diminishing liquid level to taper feed. This can be further augmented by short radial blades (not shown) marginally around the impeller. However, it is preferred that the surface of the impeller be rough cut styrofoam since the scented air circulation induced is mild and continues effectively with unusual quietness for long periods of time.

It will be observed that as the housing 50 is tightened to reduce the openness of the port 58 at the needle valve 46, the flange 52 compresses the styrofoam as indicated at 88 (FIG. 1) and less flow area is provided for any liquid through the compressed area along with the reduced openness of the port. Thereby each factor of these supplements the other with magnified sensitivity of adjustment of the liquid flow.

The energization of the motor 14 is controlled by a switch 86 in the motor-power line circuit (not shown) as located in the upper shell 12 where the wiring is protected by the rigidly held partition wall 28. Also, due to the softness of the styrofoam, there is little likelihood of personal injury if the motor is turned on accidentally or in testing when the upper shell is removed from the lower shell.

In operation, liquid contacting the impeller is quickly dispersed into the styrofoam material and travels radially and disperses through the styrofoam cells which are somewhat radially stretched by radial elongation due to centrifugal forces. The dispersion extends to the surfaces and the air movement thereover vaporizes and picks up the vapor of the odor control liquid, the warmth of the motor supplying latent heat of vaporization which assures that no liquid particles will be propelled out of the ports 19 when the valve 46 is adjusted for expected use.

What is claimed is:

1. A liquid odor control dispenser comprising a disk impeller of expanded plastic rotating in a compartment having liquid and air inlets near the center of the impeller and outlet ports for vapor air mixtures at the periphery of the disk impeller,

said impeller having porous rough surface sides defining parallel planes, and

means for supplying said impeller through the liquid inlet adjacent to its center of rotation with liquid,

said liquid supply means including a conical housing having a restricted opening at its apex submerged in a stored body of the liquid and an upwardly diverging wall whose upper edge engages said impeller.

2. The dispenser defined in claim 1 including,

means for variably compressing said impeller intermediate said liquid inlet thereto and its periphery including a rotary drive element engaging the upper surface of the impeller, and

means interconnecting said drive element and said conical housing to variably clamp said impeller therebetween.

3. The dispenser defined in claim 1 including needle valve means cooperating with said restricted opening to vary the flow of liquid therethrough, and

means interengaging said conical housing and said needle valve means for varying the restricted openmg.

4. The dispenser defined in claim 3 in which actuation of said interengaging means variably compresses said impeller intermediate said liquid inlet and the periphery of said impeller.

5. The dispenser defined in claim 1 in which said conical housing has internally radially extending walls spiralling upwardly in a direction trailing the direction of rotation of said impeller.

6. A liquid dispenser for room odor control-comprising a housing having upper and lower members with closely spaced walls defining an impeller compartment between them and a motor compartment in the upper member,

the upper wall having a central opening between the compartments and said impeller compartment having an air exhaust opening at the periphery thereof, air intake means in the wall of the upper member,

a prime mover in the motor compartment having its drive shaft exposed to said impeller compartment through said central one of the openings,

an impeller of flexible porous material having rough porous sides mounted on said shaft disposed in said impeller compartment for rotation by the shaft, and

means extending through said upper wall for depositing liquid odor control on the impeller adjacent to the center thereof including an opening in close proximity to the impeller and providing access thereto for dispersion of odor control liquid directly into said impeller.

7. The dispenser defined in claim 6 in which said depositing means includes a liquid storage in one of said members, and

liquid conducting means between said liquid storage and said impeller.

8. A liquid control dispenser comprising,

a hollow housing having two shell portions defining a compartment and including wall means supported adjacent the edges of the upper shell defining a space thereabove,

a motor supported on the upper shell of the housing in said space,

a disk impeller of expanded plastic rotatably carried by the shaft of the motor below the wall means disposed in the compartment and having a porous rough surface on the upper one of two radially extending sides thereof defining parallel planes,

said housing having spaced liquid and air access openings located on said one side of the disk,

said wall means being in close proximity to said impeller and defining an air flow opening centrally of the impeller through which air from said air access opening passes in contact with the motor and is confined to pass into engagement with said upper side of the disk,

means extending through said wall means and the liquid access opening for applying an odor control composition to said rough surface of the impeller adjacent to its center of rotation for absorption therein,

means disposed peripherally of the edge of the impeller including a wall in close proximity thereto and circumferentially spaced vent openings directing and receiving odorized air impelled by the impeller to exhaust it from the housing.

9. The dispenser defined in claim 8 in which said housing is readily separable in the plane of the impeller for ready removability of the disk to clean and reinstall 

1. A liquid odor control dispenser comprising a disk impeller of expanded plastic rotating in a compartment having liquid and air inlets near the center of the impeller and outlet ports for vapor air mixtures at the periphery of the disk impeller, said impeller having porous rough surface sides defining parallel planes, and means for supplying said impeller through the liquid inlet adjacent to its center of rotation with liquid, said liquid supply means including a conical housing having a restricted opening at its apex submerged in a stored body of the liquid and an upwardly diverging wall whose upper edge engages said impeller.
 2. The dispenser defined in claim 1 including, means for variably compressing said impeller intermediate said liquid inlet thereto and its periphery including a rotary drive element engaging the upper surface of the impeller, and means interconnecting said drive element and said conical housing to variably clamp said impeller therebetween.
 3. The dispenser defined in claim 1 including needle valve means cooperating with said restricted opening to vary the flow of liquid therethrough, and means interengaging said conical housing and said needle valve means for varying the restricted opening.
 4. The dispenser defined in claim 3 in which actuation of said interengaging means variably compresses said impeller intermediate said liquid inlet and the periphery of said impeller.
 5. The dispenser defined in claim 1 in which said conical housing has internally radially extending walls spiralling upwardly in a direction trailing the direction of rotation of said impeller.
 6. A liquid dispenser for room odor control comprising a housing having upper and lower members with closely spaced walls defining an impeller compartment between them and a motor compartment in the upper member, the upper wall having a central opening between the compartments and said impeller compartment having an air exhaust opening at the periphery thereof, air intake means in the wall of the upper member, a prime mover in the motor compartment having its drive shaft exposed to said impeller compartment through said central one of the openings, an impeller of flexible porous material having rough porous sides mounted on said shaft disposed in said impeller compartment for rotation by the shaft, and means extending through said upper wall for depositing liquid odor control on the impeller adjacent to the center thereof including an opening in close proximity to the impeller and providing access thereto for dispersion of odor control liquid directly into said impeller.
 7. The dispenser defined in claim 6 in which said depositing means includes a liquid storage in one of said members, and liquid conducting means between said liquid storage and said impeller.
 8. A liquid control dispenser comprising, a hollow housing having two shell portions defining a compartment and including wall means supported adjacent the edges of the upper shell defining a space thereabove, a motor supported on the upper shell of the housing in said space, a disk impeller of expanded plastic rotatably carried by the shaft of the motor below the wall means disposed in the compartment and having a porous rough surface on the upper one of two radially extending sides thereof defining parallel planes, said housing having spaced liquiD and air access openings located on said one side of the disk, said wall means being in close proximity to said impeller and defining an air flow opening centrally of the impeller through which air from said air access opening passes in contact with the motor and is confined to pass into engagement with said upper side of the disk, means extending through said wall means and the liquid access opening for applying an odor control composition to said rough surface of the impeller adjacent to its center of rotation for absorption therein, means disposed peripherally of the edge of the impeller including a wall in close proximity thereto and circumferentially spaced vent openings directing and receiving odorized air impelled by the impeller to exhaust it from the housing.
 9. The dispenser defined in claim 8 in which said housing is readily separable in the plane of the impeller for ready removability of the disk to clean and reinstall it. 